Forum Post: Leadership and agenda!
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 16, 2011, 3:52 p.m. EST by larryathome
(161)
from Red Bank, NJ
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Congratulations America and the rest of the world for waking up and waking up big. Never in my lifetime have I felt the level of hope that this movement has given to me. Now, I feel that it is time for leadership and our agenda to be presented to those that sit in our government.
For those local and state governments that pass voting restrictions, our congress must pass a constitutional amendment protecting those without photo id from disenfranchisement. A simple utility bill, social security card or birth certificate should be proof enough of identity.
Re-enact the Glass-Steagall act to protect us from the abuses of the big banks.
Immediately demand that people over a million dollars of income immediately be taxed at 50% progressively to 70% for those earning over one billion dollars annually.
Continue the Bush tax cuts for the bottom 95% only and make that a permanent part of our tax code.
Make it a federal crime to disenfranchise voters.
As many economists have stated as required to fix our infrastructure, use the tax revenue from the wealthy to start a ten year 2 Trillion Dollar infrastructure and education bill.
Hire American workers tax benefits for corporations. Start at a high tax rate and allow hiring American workers bring that tax rate down.
Protect our reserve currency status by not allowing foreign countries devalue our currency.
This can only be done by taking over the congress and setting the agenda. The Republican party today is not the party of Eisenhower, the one that got the agenda moving forward on our highway system.
These are things that we are rallying behind so that our future remains as secure as it was before Reaganomics started to pollute our financial system. We need a group of people to publicly step up as our leadership so we have a voice in the conventional media. Many people are still viewing the conventional media, and we need to have a voice there to shift the debate.
Take a look at the money-out-of-politics Constitutional Amendment poll, and please add your ideas and feedback. http://occupywallst.org/forum/poll-what-do-you-want-in-a-money-out-of-politics-a/
While I agree the wealthy need to contribute more, abitrarily taxing them isn't fair either. It wouldn't be cool to tax them to a point where their net income becomes lower than someone making less than them. That would be an injustice. The best way to achieving greater equality is to attack the root of this wealth surplus. The only tax that doesn't steal capital and wages and promotes equality and responsible growth is to tax land rent through a Land Tax.
The theory of economic rent has been around for some time, but land taxation has seldom been implemented throughout history. It is well known that the factors of production are composed of land, labor and capital. Land, in the economic sense, can be explained as anything with a productive capacity that has not been created by men or women, but has value created by the community. Labor is any human energy spent , whether by the mind or through brute force, that contributes to a means of production. Capital is mainly what is spent from savings for future production. Under the current system, mainly labor and capital are taxed, while the landed elite make out like bandits with the rents that are created by the community! It is no surprise that civilizations have suffered from vast inequalities since the founding of the first governments.
What we need to fight for is a redistribution of these economic rents for the sake of the people, while at the same time reducing the tax rates on labor and capital. These rents from land are the source of all wealth and are presently held by a small number of wealthy people who will speculate and slow there productive capacity in order to increase profits.
This demand goes out to the people of OWS! If there is one thing we need to change in order to promote equality, environmental protection and job creation through increased productive capacity, this is the solution we need. Please read about economic rent and land taxation in order to fully grasp the concept.
This is something proven in theory and not based on anyone's personal opinion or ideology. While we are divided on many things, it's time to come together with some real demands to benefit the majority of unrepresented individuals of the world. Lets show the top 1% that we know where their unearned wealth is coming from and that we know exactly what is needed in order to bring them back to the real world!
Fact of the matter is that you do need as they attempted to do in the senate is to progressively tax anything over one million dollars a year progressively, although taxing the first million at the current rate is key. Ask yourself one question, will a wealthy person stop earning that second million because it is taxed more? In fact they will possibly do more to make up for the loss in taxes by increasing productivity. In fact, taxes never ever took a toll on the economy when they hit the top 1%. They would hurt the small individual that makes only 200 dollars a week or thereabout. Here is an article that I found discussing the top marginal rates under Eisenhower, yes a Republican and the last great one that we had in the white house.
http://www.democracyprevails.org/democracyprevails/tax-rate-rich-under-eisenhower.aspx
Eisenhower pushed infrastructure spending and taxing the wealthy to pay for World War 2 and the interstate highway system that we all depend on. Asking the wealthiest of Americans to assist in deficit reduction and infrastructure redevelopment is not too much to ask, because long term, they will reap the largest reward. They always do.
On the micro level, a small percent tax increase will not change an individuals spending habits. I completely agree with you there. But on a macro level, if you tax wages and capital it will eventually have an effect because trillions of transactions are happening daily. The only non-intrusive tax is a land tax and that is why I added it to the discussion. Just think about who owns the majority of the land in the world. It is owned by a very small percentage of the population and land is the source of all wealth. This would be a great source of revenue without sacrificing job creation and productivity. I wish I could go into more detail on how this theory works, but it would take a lot of space on this forum. Please if you still have questions about this, do a google search on it. This is a well known theory in economics, but the law has never caught up with it.
Think back through history. Our greatest moments of prosperity and innovation came with the most progressive of tax codes on income. Taxing land would be uniform for everyone and it would hurt those struggling to keep a house above water. That is the problem with taxing things that can cause collateral damage to those that need to have the money to spend as consumers. Much of the wealth generated is through consumption, because much of it is a constant for the bottom 99% unless they have to tighten their belt to pay property taxes. To protect the homeowners and the housing market, any way to prevent a reduction in disposable income to families is absolutely key. Think back to the days of Eisenhower. Did companies stop hiring people because they paid more in taxes? Maybe a Clinton tax code in the end would work, but until our deficit becomes surplus and we reduce our national debt, the people who benefit the most from society should pay a sizable share. After all, they would never be rich without the average consumer spending money that feeds back up to their level of society. Let the government empower business with a solid infrastructure in a stable country with a declining debt and their profits will soar to make up for their losses. We also need to hold corporations accountable for shipping jobs overseas. It is unfair that they get tax breaks and hire abroad. We need to level the playing field and if they want to pay less in taxes, than they should hire in America. That is part if ethics and our government can regulate that through the tax code.
History tells the story. Facts cannot be denied. Our strongest economic growth was always fueled by a strong progressive tax code.
I can assure you that taxing land will have almost no effect on the unfortunate in America. Recently I read that the bottom 80% of Americans own only 7% of the wealth. I personally don't know anyone under the median income who owns a home. If you are paying a mortgage, you do not own that home. If you are paying a mortgage, than someone else owns that home and they will be taxed accordingly. Think about all of the property out there that isn't being used but millions of people are looking for homes. If a land tax is implemented it would drive prices down to an affordable level because nobody will want to hold onto land they are not using. If we as a society ever want to find one tax to cure an array of social problems, this is one we should all be fighting for.
You are still hit with the property taxes in one sort, even if you pay rent, because the landlord will apply it to the renter so they can profit from their investment. Also, property taxes going up on companies will increase the price of goods. The other side is that if you put the burden on the overages over one million dollars of personal income, profit margins have been figured in, but property taxes are part of overhead in one way shape or form and they effect everything on the little guy, either at the cash register or in their personal rent payments. This idea of property taxation reminds me of Herman Cain's wacky 999 plan.
No the landlord cannot transfer the rent to the renter because the land tax is uniform everywhere. This means there is no alternative for the landlord. If the landlord tries to increase the rent, assuming the person renting the place is a rational person, they will find a new location from someone else that is not trying to transfer rents onto them. This is a uniform tax and if the landowner cannot find someone to rent the property, they either have to sell or eat the entire rent for themselves. In the scenario that every landlord in America tried to charge land value to the renter, this would have the same effect. Either nobody could afford the rent and the landlord would be forced to pay the rent or they will be forced to drive prices down to meet the public needs. There is absolutely no way where the renter will pay any of the land value.
And I think I explained before this is not property taxation, but taxation on only the land beneath the property. Any improvements one makes to the property is not subject to additional taxes. Actually no improvements get taxed on the land. Understand, that nobody should have individual ownership of profits from land because, as far as I know, no human in history ever created land. Value of land comes from the community and should be taxed for everyones benefit.
Bottom line, people that rent a store or people that rent an apartment will face costs rising due to an added tax even if it is on the land itself. This really makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and defies progressive values in every way. It is something that will end up having an impact on the consumer and that will stifle economic growth and social justice. You seem to conveniently leave out that there are plenty of homeowners currently under water and if you add a tax on them, foreclosures will rise and it will exacerbate the housing crisis even further. Seriously. You are not progressive so your views of a progressive movement are not consistent.
This is a tax that can rise on the little guy over time.
Lol. If taxing income worked so well, we would have never been in this mess. Hell if the system was so great, OWS would have never come to be. The system is broken and you need to read about a little economics before you question the theory.
And I suppose that we will all serve a king as vassals running the fields with our plows and oxen! This is a debate that you will not win. Go back to the grass roots. Tax income, it works, just go back in history and ask yourself what Ike had to say about it.
Those homeowners underwater don't actually own their home! Please, please, understand economics before you start giving advice to other people. Economic rent is the source of all wealth and it has been extracted by a small elite for thousands of years. I have tried to explain what I could on this forum, it's really up to you to try to understand what I'm saying. This idea of economic rent is not my idea, it is theory proven over 500 years ago. In any economy there are winners and losers, but the winners are always the ones that own most of the land. Just read on it please, I promise you will change your mind when you understand the theory.
Very good, but better yet, is to create your own banks, for many more people will come to your side when you are proactive (for “new” Business & Government solutions), instead of reactive (against “old” Business & Government solutions), which is why what we most immediately need is a comprehensive “new” strategy that implements all our various socioeconomic demands at the same time, regardless of party, and although I'm all in favor of taking down today's ineffective and inefficient Top 10% Management System of Business & Government, there's only one way to do it – by fighting bankers as bankers ourselves; that is, using a Focused Direct Democracy organized according to our current Occupations & Generations. Consequently, I have posted a 1-page Summary of the Strategically Weighted Policies, Organizational Operating Structures, and Tactical Investment Procedures necessary to do this at:
http://getsatisfaction.com/americanselect/topics/on_strategic_legal_policy_organizational_operational_structures_tactical_investment_procedures
Join
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/StrategicInternationalSystems/
because we need 100,000 “support clicks” at AmericansElect.org to support a Presidential Candidate -- such as any given political opportunist you'd like to draft -- in support of the above bank-focused platform.
Most importantly, remember, as cited in the first link, that as Bank Owner-Voters in your 1 of 48 "new" Business Investment Groups (or "new" Congressional Committees) you become the "new" Congress replacing the "old" Congress according to your current Occupation & Generation, called a Focused Direct Democracy.
Therefore, any Candidate (or Leader) therein, regardless of party, is a straw man, a puppet; it's the STRATEGY – the sequence of steps – that the people organize themselves under, in Military Internet Formation of their Individual Purchasing & Group Investment Power, that's important. In this, sequence is key.
Why? Because there are Natural Social Laws – in mathematical sequence – that are just like Natural Physical Laws, such as the Law of Gravity. You must follow those Natural Social Laws or the result will be Injustice, War, etc.
The FIRST step in Natural Social Law is to CONTROL the Banks as Bank Owner-Voters. If you do not, you will inevitably be UNJUSTLY EXPLOITED by the Top 10% Management Group of Business & Government who have a Legitimate Profit Motive, just like you, to do so.
Consequently, you have no choice but to become Candidates (or Leaders) yourselves as Bank Owner-Voters according to your current Occupation & Generation.
So please JOIN the 2nd link so we can make our support clicks at AmericansElect.org when called for, at exactly the right time, by an e-mail from that group, in support of the above the bank-focused platform. If so, then you will see and feel how your goals can be accomplished within the above strategy as a “new” Candidate (or Leader) of your current Occupation & Generation.
Those points may provide some good solutions. For any authority to effect them, Americans will have to demand an Article V conventions.
We NEED an Article V convention NOW!
We need an Article V convention to evolve our social agreement.
Congress is very afraid of an Article V.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_to_propose_amendments_to_the_United_States_Constitution "Congress acted preemptively to propose the amendments instead. At least four amendments (the Seventeenth, Twenty-First, Twenty-Second, and Twenty-Fifth Amendments) have been identified as being proposed by Congress at least partly in response to the threat of an Article V convention."
Our first right in our contract is Article V, the right to have congress convene delgates when 2/3 of the states have applied for an amendatory convention.
Article. V.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
Lots of facts here about Article V. http://algoxy.com/poly/article_v_convention.html
Take a look at the money-out-of-politics Constitutional Amendment poll, and please add your ideas and feedback. http://occupywallst.org/forum/poll-what-do-you-want-in-a-money-out-of-politics-a/
More on Glass-Steagall... We were burned once before and we now were burned again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm%E2%80%93Leach%E2%80%93Bliley_Act
This repeal of that provision of Glass-Steagall is what allowed Lehmen, AIG, Citigroup, BofA, JPM and a small handful of others manipulate the system. We need to lobby together to repeal Phil Gramm's recklessness and crony capitalism.
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